


Breaking the Loop

by Caedmon



Series: Doctor/Rose Prompts [35]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Interfering TARDIS, Time Loop, Timepetalsprompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 16:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8110060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caedmon/pseuds/Caedmon
Summary: The Doctor and Rose are stuck in a time loop. They have to do something different to escape. But what?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the timepetalsprompts weekly ficlet prompt(s) - _in the rain_ and _deja vu_.
> 
> As usual:  
> I own nothing but the mistakes.  
> comments and kudos are the life blood of the muse.  
> Come say hi! caedmonfaith.tumblr.com
> 
> Beta'd by tenroseforeverandever - who worked so hard on this fic she should really get cowriter credit, heh.

Rose’s laughter washed over him like the rain that was gushing down on them from the sky above, even as they ran. The sound made him laugh as well, the joy bubbling up from his chest and out of his throat. Their hands were joined, fingers threaded as they ducked between buildings and around pedestrians who’d had the foresight to bring an umbrella. The Doctor had one as well, somewhere in some pocket of his leather coat, but didn’t bother digging it out. He’d have to let go of Rose’s hand, and he just wasn’t willing to do that. Besides, by the sound of Rose’s laughter she wasn’t minding the fact that they were both drenched to the bone. 

The pair rounded a corner and the Doctor pulled Rose under the protection of an awning. Water poured from all edges of the cover, but none fell on their soaked heads. Rose was still laughing and let go of his hand long enough to push away some of the wet strands of hair sticking to her face. Her smile was radiant, and the Doctor felt his hearts stutter, the way they always did when she looked up at him like that. He brought his hand up to brush the hair away from the other side of her face. 

The stroke of his fingers along her skin turned into a caress, and the last remnants of Rose’s laughter died, leaving a bright but tremulous smile behind. She looked at him curiously, her eyes narrowed a little in a question she dare not ask and he dare not answer. The impulse to kiss her was stronger than it had ever been. 

_You can’t_ , he admonished himself, even as his hearts raced and his finger traced the shell of her ear, ostensibly tucking hair behind it. _You mustn’t._

_Why not?_ he challenged himself. 

_She doesn’t want you._

Rose brought her hands up to rest on his forearms, the question still in her eyes, more intense now. Her lips parted with the fading of her smile, and her eyes flicked from his own eyes down to his lips and then back up. 

_Look at that face,_ the devil on his shoulder goaded him. _That is the look of a woman who wants -_ needs - to be kissed.

_It will ruin everything. She means too much to lose,_ his conscience insisted. 

_You’ll lose her eventually anyway._

_Yes, but do you want to drive her away?_

“Rose,” he said, his voice thick. 

“Yes, Doctor?”

_Do you really want any regrets after she’s gone?_

_Don’t do this. Don’t drive her away._

He gave her one more longing look, then shook himself. Reaching down, he grabbed her hand, smiling manically. “Run.”

~*~O~*~

Rose laughed as they ran, her hand held firmly in the Doctor’s. It was all so silly, really, them getting caught out in the rain like this. The Doctor seemed to think so, too, if his deep, rumbling laughter was any indication.

They ducked under an awning, out of the rain, and Rose turned to the Doctor, bringing one hand up to pull her wet hair away from her cheek. The Doctor’s eyes darkened, and her laughter ebbed. He brought his own hand up to her still-dripping face and at the brush of his fingers, she felt the oddest sensation that they’d been here before. 

But that wasn’t possible. The Doctor had never looked at her like _that_ before. His eyes were dark and blazing at the same time, and her breath caught. 

_Kiss me, Doctor_ , she pleaded from within her mind, hoping that somehow he could hear her thoughts. 

_He won’t, you silly girl. He never will._

_Oh, but I want him to._

His finger traced the shell of her ear, pushing her hair back behind it, and she stared up at him, caught in the depths of his eyes. 

“Rose…” he began.

“Yes, Doctor?”

He lingered for a minute more, then took her hand. 

“Run!”

~*~O~*~

They ran through the rain, dodging buildings and people until the Doctor spotted an awning just ahead and pulled her towards the pitiful shelter.

Rose laughed and brushed her wet hair back, and he couldn’t help it, he raised his hand to help clear the hair on the other side. 

Her breath hitched and he stared down into her eyes, desperate to kiss her. His brain spun with all the reasons he shouldn’t.

Something was nagging him about this situation, interrupting his thoughts of Rose’s soft, pink lips, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. It was a strong, odd feeling that he’d been here before. More than once. He’d been in _this moment_ before, he was sure of it. 

Rose looked up at him, her eyes so sweet and beguiling, and the temptation to ignore the part of his brain that felt ‘off’ and just kiss her into oblivion nearly overpowered him. Her eyes dropped to his lips, then back up to his eyes, and it would be so easy - _so easy_ \- just to…

“Rose…”

“Yes, Doctor?”

He took a step back and clutched her hand. 

“Run!”

~*~O~*~

Rose was laughing, the falling rain only adding to her joy. The Doctor laughed as well, but his was a bit more guarded. Chuckles instead of a full, happy laugh.

He tugged her under the awning of a building and she laughed some more, too happy to do anything else. 

Hair was plastered to her face and she brought up a hand to brush it away. The Doctor’s hand came up to the other side to clear her cheek, and she fought a shiver when she looked up into his fathomless blue eyes. 

She’d been here before, she knew she had. The feeling of deja vu was powerful, and something inside her knew that he wasn’t going to kiss her, no matter how much they both wanted it. 

And he _did_ want, she knew he did. Although she couldn’t explain _how_ she knew, she just _knew._

Rose,” he said, his hand still on her cheek.

“Yes, Doctor?”

He looked conflicted, confused, like he was contemplating something very serious. 

"I have been having this feeling...like we've been here before. It’s like an itch I can't scratch. Infuriating."

Rose blinked up at him, surprised. "Me too. The rain, the laughing, you..." Reflexively, she licked her lips. “Like deja vu."

He pierced her with his gaze, making her shiver again. "That's it! Deja vu. Both of us..."

"That's weird though, isn't it? Both of us having the same deja vu?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment, then brightened. "Nah, just a coincidence." He plastered a cheesy smile across his lips.

But when he took her hand, the desire in his eyes gone and replaced with something very like fear. 

“Run!”

~*~O~*~

The rain poured down, drenching him, but he paid no attention. Rose’s laughter echoed in his ears and made him smile, but he didn’t laugh.

Something was wrong. He could feel it. 

Somehow, the Doctor knew exactly where to go, although he’d never visited this planet before. Leading a merrily giggling Rose by the hand, he spotted the awning ahead and pulled her under it, knowing he was doing the right thing.

Rose continued to laugh, delighted, and he allowed himself a smile in the face of her joy. She brushed the wet hair from one side of her face and, without thought, he raised his hand to the other side, copying her action. The laugh faded into a smile as she looked up into his eyes. 

“Rose…” he began, not knowing what to say. The urge to kiss her was nearly overwhelming him, but he had to think.

“Yes, Doctor?”

He shook himself and tore his eyes away from her mouth. 

“Are you having deja vu?” 

Rose’s smile disappeared. “I am. How did you know?”

“Time loop. I think we’re in a time loop.”

She looked up at him, confused, and he suddenly realized that he was still cupping her cheek. He dropped his hand as if she’d burned him and he slipped his fingers between hers, absent of thought. 

“Run!”

~*~O~*~

Rose ran along with the Doctor, giggling a little as the rain drenched them. For some reason, though, their predicament didn’t seem as fun as it should have, as if some unknown and possibly imaginary danger trailed after them.

The Doctor pulled her beside a building, under the shelter of an awning, and she quickly brushed her hair out of her face. He reached up to the other side of her face to clear it of her wet hair, as well.

“Rose…”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“We’re in a time loop. The same things keep happening over and over again.”

She was startled, but had learned long ago that sometimes he said things that made no sense - but were no less true. 

“What does that mean?”

“We’re stuck doing the same thing over and over until something changes. But I don’t know what.”

Rose blinked up at him. There was nothing more frightening than the Doctor not knowing something. “What do we do?”

“We’re going to have to figure out what should be different. Until then, we’re going to relive the loop over and over and over.”

She nodded, and the Doctor took her hand. 

“Run!”

~*~O~*~

Rose and the Doctor ran through the rain and under the awning beside the building... again. Rose wasn’t laughing this time, though, and he was sure she’d been laughing all of the other times they’d lived these few moments. He had to find the moment, the moment that would release them from this link in a chain of events. Something needed to change. But what?

She turned to him once they were under shelter, and looked up at him questioningly. “We’ve done this before. I know we have.”

“Yes, we have. Several times. We’re in a time loop.”

Rose looked surprised for just a moment, but didn’t say anything. “What does that mean?”

“Ever seen the movie Groundhog Day?” Rose nodded. “It’s like that, except only a couple of minutes long, and this isn’t Hollywood.”

“What do we do?”

“I’m not doing something right,” he mused. “There’s something wrong about all of this.”

“What does all of this mean, Doctor?”

The wheels spun in his mind. “We need to do something different.”

“How did this happen?” She sounded afraid, confused, and Rose should never feel that way when she was with him. He knew that for certain. 

“There’s been a...hiccup. A temporal hiccup.”

“But how?”

“The TARDIS,” he answered succinctly. “This could have happened for any number of reasons, but I know the TARDIS did it.”

“How do you know?” she asked him, brow scrunched, nonplussed.

He didn’t answer right away; he was too deep in thought. Her question finally registered. “I just do,” he said, tersely.

Concentrating, he thought back to the last several times they’d lived this moment. He could remember every second, every thought, every motion the two of them had made. Rose reached up to clear her face from the wet hair that stuck there, and he watched her. Without permission, his hand raised to her opposite cheek and brushed back the hair that stuck there, as well. Then it clicked.

“I think I know how to fix this,” he murmured. “But I don’t know if you’ll ever forgive me.”

Her gaze softened. “I’ll forgive you anything, Doctor, if it gets us out of this time loop thing. I trust you, yeah?" She rested her arm on his sleeve.

The Doctor’s eyes lingered on her mouth for a moment longer, and he debated with himself. “You may not like it.”

“Whatever it is, just do it. I won’t be angry, I promise.”

His thumb swiped a drop of rain from her cheek, and he dipped his head to kiss her. Her lips were almost the same temperature as his, chilled by the rain and cool air, but that didn’t slow him down. He let his lips glide over hers, and her body arched into his in response to even that gentle touch. He thought that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t be angry after all. 

Her tongue darted out and traced his bottom lip, and he groaned, throwing his arms around her and tugging her close - closer than a heartbeat. Her arms wound around his neck, and he tightened his hold on her, even as he parted his lips and urged hers apart. He delved into her mouth, tasting and conquering, heedless of what she might think. If this was his one chance to kiss Rose Tyler, he was going to take it. 

She wasn't recoiling from his advances, he noted as his tongue slid against his. In fact, if he was interpreting her actions correctly, she was encouraging him.

After several long moments, they broke apart and the Doctor rested his forehead against Rose’s. Both were breathing heavily, and the Doctor spared a thought as to why his respiratory bypass hadn’t kicked in. 

Then he felt Rose’s short nails scratching his scalp, and didn’t give a damn. 

“Do you - do you think that fixed it?” Rose asked, breathless.

“I don’t know. There’s only one way to find out.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. “How’s that?”

He stepped back and took her hand in his. 

“Run!”

They dashed back out into the rain, and the Doctor could hear Rose’s joyful laughter behind him. The sound made him laugh - he was entirely too damned happy to do anything but laugh with her. 

Once again they were dodging pedestrians and cutting corners around buildings, until the TARDIS came into view ahead of them. Both put on a burst of speed upon seeing their home, and the Doctor had the door unlocked in a matter of seconds, ushering Rose inside and closing it behind them. 

She stood on the ramp, a few feet away, smiling down at him. “I don’t feel the deja vu anymore.”

“I don’t either,” he told her. “I think we broke the loop.”

“What? By kissing me?”

“Yes. Kissing you did the trick.”

“Shame there isn’t another loop, then,” she teased, sounding nervous.  
.  
He closed the distance between them with two long steps and snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her body flush with his. Rose didn’t protest, only smiled, and rested her hands on his shoulders.

“I don’t need a temporal anomaly to want to kiss you, Rose Tyler.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

It turned out that nothing was stopping him.


End file.
